At my current count, I have 20,806 photographs on my I-phone, i'm not a massive selfie taker and I don't have an addiction to breakfast flat-lays.

These are ALL photos of my kids.

If i'm being really honest they are mostly bad photos of my kids.

If you’re anything like me, even though you have a huge amount of photos sat on your phone, they aren't exactly of the highest quality; blurry, badly lit, bodies cropped out.

Sure those newborn pictures are easy enough, you lie them down on their back and dangle something noisy above the head, and magically you've managed to capture a beautiful smiling memory.

But as they get older it all gets a bit more tricky.

So I have enlisted the help of the lovely Alison Burrows, from AJ Burrows Photography to do a little take over on the blog today and help us mums out, by giving us her top tips for capturing some beautiful photos of your children.

I first met Alison, when I was hunting for someone to take some photos for my website. She's based in Hertford and is a massive supporter of small businesses. She not only takes great photos (all of the photos on this post are by her) but she also gives out a lot of amazing and insightful advice about your brand. If you've followed me on instagram for a while, all of the professional and beautiful shots of my products and family were taken by her.

This is what Alison had to say:

Although it’s great fun, capturing images of little people, it can sometimes be a struggle to get photographs of your own children.

I always find that kids will be more compliant for anyone other than mum or dad, so my biggest recommendation is that if you’re on a day out with friends get one of them to take the snap of your kids, they’re bound to be more cooperative for a different adult.

However if that’s not an option then below are five quick tips to help you capture a great snap of your little people.

1 – Get down to their level

The perspective of photographs is so important. So crouch down or lie down and really get onto your child’s height. Then shoot at eye level, it avoids odd distortion and you can sneak up on them that way too.

2 – No more CHEESE

Please please stop asking your child to smile for the camera!! It creates horrible fake smiles. If you are desperate for a camera aware happy face then, call their names and pull out a funny face or noise to get a genuine reaction. Bursting into song is always a great way to grab their attention and get a smile, but you need to do it with gusto for real impact.

3 - Go Natural

In line with the, no cheese policy. Try to sneak up on your little ones while they are playing their game or really engrossed in something. Natural moments can create really beautiful images.

4 – Lighting

Nothing fancy about this, just take a look at where the light is coming from. Sun straight into the eyes isn’t a great look and sun behind can lead to a very dark subject. If you’re photographing into the sun with your iphone you will find that the subject is very dark, that’s because the phone is exposing for the whole image, if you tap on the darkest spot of the image then the exposure will change to brighten up those shadows. However if possible try to find some shade, you’ll get a much better image.

5 – Patience and fun

Last but by no means least, be patient!! Unless you have a camera-loving supermodel on your hands, your little one, like mine, will probably be fed up with having a camera pointed at them. So be patient and try to think about the 4 points above. Most of all make it fun for them, give them a task to do and photograph the results, or more importantly the laughter the tasks create.

Here are some of my favourites:

Who can laugh the loudest

Who can jump the highest

Roar like a lion

Hop like a bunny

You get the idea!!

So what do you guys think? Useful tips? I love the tip about getting down to their level, that’s something I wouldn't have thought about doing - but clearly makes a big difference in these photos.

Lets see if we can use these tips during the summer holiday to create some beautiful pictures.

We would love to see your successes so tag us on Instagram and make sure you head over to Alisons website to see what else she has been working on https://www.ajburrowsphotography.co.uk